Océ enhances its focus on growth markets

Poing, Germany, 6 March 2007 — Océ N.V., a leading international document management company, is enhancing its focus on growth markets, according to CEO Rokus van Iperen, speaking at Océ OpenHouse 2007. This week over 7,000 customers are attending the 14th edition of the Océ event near Munich, Europe's largest digital printing fair.

The company's growth strategy is based on enhancing its distribution power, technological innovation and organisational efficiencies. Based upon these strategic pillars, Océ is expanding its position in wide format printing and leveraging its expertise in small format continuous feed printing to achieve a leading position in cutsheet.  

Continued investment in growth

To maintain technological innovation, Océ invests 7% of its revenue in research and development each year. The new systems launched at Océ OpenHouse 2007 are the concrete results of the investment in R&D. Organisational efficiencies implemented in 2006 will save € 50 million over 2006 and 2007. Added to this, continued outsourcing will see 60% of the production volume of Océ's Dutch manufacturing operations transferred to Eastern Europe and Asia by the end of this year. Van Iperen also announced several measures to increase the distribution power: 'We are expanding our direct and indirect sales channels, particularly in Asia.'  

Focus on growth markets

Océ participates in most of the highest growth areas in its industry. It is entering the office market in Europe. Currently, the global office market is valued at € 30 billion. Océ is leader in black and white technical document systems market, a relatively stable market. However, the market for colour technical document systems is growing by 6% per year. The commercial printing market is another growth area in which digital printing is increasing by 7% per annum. The display graphics market is expected to increase by 6% per cent per annum through 2010. Direct mail and marketing services, a market which Océ pioneered, has average annual growth of 13%. The largest growth opportunity for Océ is the graphic arts market currently worth € 400 billion, 90% of which market is analogue ´Océ is positioned to seize the 13% annual growth for digital prints in this market,´ said Van Iperen.  

Expanding leading position in wide format

Tom Egelund, Executive Vice President of strategic business unit Wide Format Printing Systems, said 'Océ Technical Document Systems is the leading player in black and white and aims to be number one in colour as well. Last year, Océ increased its leading position in black and white by realising 24% growth in placements of low volume systems. The recent launch of the Océ TDS700 is designed to maintain that leadership. In the low volume colour market, the Océ TCS500 and Océ TCS300 achieved a 38% increase in placements in 2006. In addition, the Océ CS2044 family realised 70% growth in unit sales. On the OpenHouse floor, Océ is unveiling additions to this family, the Océ CS2124 and the Océ CS2136.   

Huge growth potential in digital display graphics

According to Egelund, Océ is using innovation to build market share in display graphics. This market is currently dominated by analogue technologies, but Océ sees huge growth opportunities to convert it to digital. To that end, the company launched the Océ Arizona 250 GT at OpenHouse 2007. This flatbed and roll-to-roll UV-durable inkjet printer is based on Océ VariaDot imaging technology which prints ink droplets in variable sizes. As a result, customers can print near-photographic image quality on a wide range of substrates. 'It's going to help our customers drive new applications and drive new business opportunities,' said Egelund.  

Leveraging leadership

In the production printing market, Océ is using innovation and distribution to target growth areas, according to Jan Dix, Executive Vice President of Océ Digital Document Systems and Océ board member. Last year, Océ increased its lead in the global continuous feed market by growing its placement share to more than 50 per cent. It aims to leverage that position to carve out a major slice of the cutsheet market as well.  

Demand for colour, personalisation and print on demand

In the continuous feed market there is strong demand for colour and personalisation in transaction documents and direct mail. In addition, traditional offset documents like books are increasingly being printed on demand. The new Océ VarioStream 9240 is designed to take advantage of these trends. It is the latest addition to the Océ VarioStream 9000 family, which allows customers to buy a monochrome system and add extra colours when they need them. The Océ VarioStream 9240 offers four-over-four printing, black plus three Océ CustomTone colours on both sides of the print.  

Commitment to lead the cutsheet market

From its strong position in continuous feed printing, Océ is aggressively approaching the cutsheet market. Here Océ has seen strong demand for the Océ VarioPrint 6250 based on Océ Gemini Instant Duplex Technology. 'Not all customers have the volume to justify an investment in the high end´, said Jan Dix. 'So we are giving them more choice.' Just one year after the introduction of the Gemini technology, Océ launched a whole family of Gemini Instant Duplex printers at this year's OpenHouse. The Océ VarioPrint 6200 produces 200 prints per minute whilst the Océ VarioPrint 6160 produces 160 prints per minute. With these new additions to its portfolio, Océ has a full range of high speed cutsheet printers. 'There are about 25,000 high volume cutsheet systems in the world and we intend to capture about 20% of those placements in the coming five years,' said Dix. 'The systems launched today are concrete actions to achieve that.'  

For more information, please contact:

Nick Gale
Manager Media Relations
Océ Technologies
Tel.: +31.77.359.5628
Email: nick.gale@oce.com